I'm sorry I left you all hanging for almost a month... I'm sorry. Things just kept happening and I kept coming and going from writing this, so that's why it's not the best chapter and it's a bit jumpy. But here it is! Thanks, and I apologise again.
{Zayn's POV}
When I met Perrie, she was alluring, absorbing. Back then I was terrified that the way she enticed me was not only used on me, but on multiple other guys. That one day I would wake up and she would be gone. That I was never going to be good enough. I felt like I was alone in a crowded room. Then one day, it happened. Everything just happens. There is constantly going to be that moment. We remember, we change, we fight... we fall.
Perrie walks into the kitchen area, talking to me. I'm not actually paying attention to what she is saying though, due to the fact I am concentrating on her in general. The way that her whole face reacts and changes with every word she speaks, the way she is walking, her eyes not directed at me but rather in the direction of our daughters who are playing in the lounge area.
"Zayn?" Perrie sticks her face right in front of mine.
"Hmm."
"Um, I just got off the phone with Louis. He was talking to Jake. Jake told him that they got home and everything is going well, with both Jesy and Edison," Perrie tells me whilst dolloping yoghurt into three separate bowls.
"Great," I smile happily. Jesy pulled through the first twenty-four hours after her surgery brilliantly. It has been a week now since Edison was born and Jesy got discharged from the hospital this morning. She's walking and her pain from the kidney plant is little to none. The surgeon and Erica were both happy with everything so Jesy and Edison were all good to go.
It's needless to say that Jesy was absolutely overjoyed to meet her son. Jake and Jesy are absolutely infatuated by Edison, how it should be. The rest of us are all completely and utterly proud and happy for the two of them.
The knocking of the door makes both Perrie and I look up from where we are standing behind the kitchen bench, and Ellie, Lillie, and Rosie look up from where they're playing with the trains in the lounge.
I walk towards the front door and slide the lock, opening the door to reveal people who I didn't expect to see on the other side. They don't normally knock, neither do they stand at the door with giant grins on their faces.
"Hi?" I say with my face a little scrunched up due to confusion.
"Hello!" They greet.
"Can I help you?" I question, confused as shit.
"Let us in," Louis barges past me, Leigh-Anne trailing behind as they make their way into the living area. I close the door and proceed to move after them, still majorly confused at what the hell is happening.
"Hello," Perrie says to them, as confused sounding as I was.
"We've come to look after Ellie, Lillie, and Rosie," Leigh-Anne tells us whilst looking at our daughters, who start smiling happily. Leigh- Anne sits down with the girls and Perrie on the rug and a communal conversation starts between the five of them.
Louis lingers beside me, not actually vocally saying anything, but his eyes and subtle looks say a lot more than anything verbal could. He's really quite imposing to be honest. I know the looks he is giving me and what they are displaying.
"No, I didn't forget," I tell him, my voice at a low tone.
"How'd you know that's what I was thinking?" Louis asks.
"Louis, I know you," I roll my eyes in response, "Besides, why else would you be here? Actually I take that back. Why would you be here without just barging your way into the house?"
"I don't barge in every time!" He protests.
"Were you familiar with the fact that there's actually a front door until today?"
"Um.... no," Louis answers his own question, allowing me to laugh. We stand in silence for a few moments until he speaks once more, "What are you doing this evening?"
"I am taking her somewhere," I respond, not giving him the answer he wants, before turning to Perrie, "Per, you coming?"
"Where?" Perrie looks up.
"We're going out for a while, c'mon," I nod towards the door.
Perrie stands up and says goodbye to the girls, Leigh-Anne, and Louis. I do the same and then we head to the car, both getting inside and then pulling on our seat belts as I lead the car out of the driveway. It's not until we're on our way down the road that we start to talk about different things, enjoying having each other alone for the first time in what feels like forever.
"Where are we going?" Perrie asks, much alike Louis. I don't reply, causing Perrie to let out a sigh and slump down in her seat. "Okay, you're not going to tell me then," she mutters.
There's no point in telling her because as I park the car, it means that we're here. Perrie looks out the windshield and then turns to look at me, a small smile on her lips. I just grin in response and get out of the car with her soon by my side.
"Why are we here?" Perrie asks, her hand locked in mine as we cross the road and then enter into the small park.
Perrie's eyes wander around the park, noticing the other people who are having picnics in different parts, and then there's a lady painting one of the trees, not to mention the old church adjacent to the grass, the church we got married in five years ago, today.
"Just sit here," I pull her down into the spot where we had our photos taken and cross my legs, allowing Perrie to rest her head against my shoulder whilst we sit there.
"What are we doing?" Perrie whispers loudly.
I chuckle and then press a kiss to the side of her head, "We're just going to sit here for a while."
I have a feeling that she forgot, again. Perrie apparently doesn't ever remember our wedding anniversary, but I'm not mad about it. As important as our wedding anniversary is, I'm personally think the fact that I get to spend every day with her is more important.
"Oh...fuck," Perrie mutters, "Bloody fuck. I am sorry!"
The look on her face is a cross between disappointment and anger with herself. I can't help but laugh, which is apparently contagious because Perrie soon starts laughing too.
"I'm an idiot," Perrie shakes her head, "Um... happy anniversary! Happy fifth anniversary!"
"Happy anniversary to you too," I chuckle, pecking her lips gently and then placing another kiss on her forehead. "We've made it five years. That's impressive!"
"You thought we wouldn't?" Perrie laughs, her blue eyes meeting my brown ones.
"No! It's just... weird. Kinda strange to think that, what? In 2011 when we met, we had do darned clue that in twelve years we'd have been married for five years, with three children."
"It's actually fucking scaring," Perrie adds. I don't understand how she has tamed language around children, when she's inclined to through the word 'fuck' into any other conversation when the person or people she is talking to are over the age of eighteen?
"Why are you laughing?" Perrie asks.
"At you, and your foul mouth," I respond, earning a slap across the upper arm, right before my ass starts vibrating from the ringing of my phone.
Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I answer it and have a conversation with the person on the other end. When I finish the call, I let out a sigh and turn to look at my wife. From the look, she knows immediately what I'm saying and stands up, extending her hand out to me.
Once we're in the car, Perrie asks, "What have they done?"
"Lillie won't stop crying. According to both Leigh- Anne and Louis, they've tried everything, even Ellie and Rosie are trying to calm her down but she won't stop," I explain what I got told in the phone call.
"Ah fuck," Perrie mutters.
Thirty minutes later, I'm pulling the car back into the driveway and parking it, allowing Perrie and I to get out and head inside. As soon as we do step foot inside, I can hear Lillie's cries and screams, piercing through the house, along with the sound of Leigh trying to sing to her.
Perrie heads into the living area with me close behind. Rosie is sitting in the middle of the floor, in her pyjamas, her hands clasped firmly over her ears, obviously fed up by her twin's crying. Ellie is also in her pyjamas, standing on the couch and shaking Lillie's toy zebra in her face, trying to calm her down.
Lillie is in Leigh's arms, crying and kicking her legs at Ellie's head, trying to get her away, whilst Louis does something in the kitchen.
"Lillie! God Lillie!" Perrie throws her arms in the direction of where Leigh-Anne is, grabbing Lillie whilst getting kicked in the process. "What's wrong baba?"
"Mumma, Mumma," Lillie whines, nuzzling her head against Perrie's chest, her small hand gripping at Perrie's jumper tightly.
"Okay, it's okay. Mummy's here," Perrie whispers, placing soft kisses on Lillie's forehead.
Leigh- Anne is looking at Perrie with a displeased look. Perrie tries not to laugh whilst Leigh rolls her eyes. Lillie stops crying, only letting out small whimpers every now and again. All Lillie wanted was Perrie apparently. I don't understand why she got upset being left with Louis and Leigh-Anne though? Lillie's known them from within an hour since she was born.
"Lillie, what's wrong lad?" I walk over, looking into her deep brown eyes, "What's wrong with Uncle Lou and Auntie Leigh?"
"Nud-ing," Lillie mumbles and then hiccups.
"Then why were you upset?" I question, my thumb stroking across her cheek.
Lillie just shakes her head and then closes her eyes, trying to bury her head further into Perrie's chest. Ellie tugs at the hem of my top, signifying that she wants to be picked up. I pull her up onto my hip and she nestles her head into the crook of my neck.
"Bed time," I whisper to Ellie and then kiss her head, knowing this attachment means she wants to go to sleep.
"C'mon Roo!" Louis hoists Rosie up into his arms and we head upstairs, Louis and Perrie taking the twins into their room as I take Ellie into her room, helping her to bed.
Once the light is out, I just sit on the side of Ellie's bed and rub her head soothingly, helping her fall asleep. Her light breathing noises soon fill the room and within time they turn into little snores, and I can't help but smile at how adorable that is.
Ellie is evidence though. Evidence that twelve years ago, there was no need for me to be worrying that Perrie was herself, attracted to other men besides me. But I know that when I wake up in the morning, Perrie will be here, will be married to me, mother to my children. The things we've been through this past year prove that I'm not going to lose her...
"Hey," Perrie whispers from the doorway, causing me to turn and look at her, "You coming to bed?"
It just happens. There's always going to be that one moment. Where you look at her, and everything seems right. You remember why you fell in in love, how it feels to touch her, to be with her, how long you've known each other, how you've changed, how you've grown. You fight until you can fight no more... and then you keep fighting. Because one day, the fall might just destroy you. But you've just got to get back up.
Because there's that moment when you fell in love - and that was the greatest fall of all.